a bleeding purple utah jazz blog

Joe Ingles talks Quin Snyder, his teammates, Vegemite and Ben Simmons

On Rudy Gobert
I think, really, the sky’s the limit for Rudy. Like I said, from the things you hear from last year, he was pretty average, just in everything. He was obviously a big talent, and that off-season, obviously worked pretty hard on everything and came back really good.

And I mean, he got, obviously got to play a lot as well [this season], and I think that helped his confidence, was probably one of the main things.

And I mean, he, no doubt he’ll be Defensive Player of the Year in the coming years, I think. And if he can get a couple moves down the block and finish around the rim a little bit stronger — he’s obviously still pretty wiry and I think he’s only 22 or something. So yeah, huge future for him. …

[On defense,] all Rudy talked about was letting, if [the guy you were defending] did blow by you, just don’t foul and, ’cause he wanted to block the shot. So really, to have that guy talking behind you is, you couldn’t understand him half the time ’cause of his accent.

On Derrick Favors
He’s 6-10, 6-11, and probably w–he doesn’t really look athletic. He looks kind of, bit out of it most times, but he’s one of the most athletic guys I’ve played with.

On Dante Exum
The progress he made himself, and also with the team, with 39 wins and he started half of ’em, I think, round about. And yeah, he got a lot more confident throughout the year too.

I think at the start of the year, people were scouting him for, obviously, his shot, and were going under and under and under and under and under. And at the start, he didn’t want to shoot that, and as the year went on he got more confident. And I think the starting role did help, honestly, to be thrown in there and knowing that you’re the starting point guard.

How much time did you put into Dante?

Yeah, I could probably thank Dante for my first job in the NBA. I don’t, I think it did help that, obviously, with the relationship we had. And personally, a, we spent a lot of time together. We sat next to each other on the plane.

We lived a street, pretty much a street away from each other, and for the first half of the year, he didn’t have his license so it was either his mum dropping him at games or me picking him up. So, it was hilarious.

On Quin Snyder(‘s honest approach to coaching)
He was pretty brutal at times, and not necessarily in a rude way or a bad way, but it was, you could tell the way he was doing it was to help me or whoever it was, and the team…His passion for our team and the development of our team and the, everything, he’s just so driven to make this a great franchise…

We were in video [session] one day, and it was a few games in a row I didn’t have a rebound. And I guess he thought for my size — and I think at that point I was starting in the “two.” So I was, it was me and Gordon [Hayward], and so, to be out there, and I was playing pretty big minutes, and I didn’t have a rebound.

Something happened on the video that I should’ve got it, and I kind of didn’t leak out, but I was getting ready to leak out, and he told me that I was the worst rebounder that he’s, I think he — it was either that he’s ever coached or that he’s ever seen in his life.

And the whole team was — I used to sit in the front row with a few of the other guys, and all I could hear behind me was, like, Gordon and these guys laughing, and it went on for a while. And I didn’t have a rebound the next game, and then I got a couple the one after, so.

Did you tell Matt Harpring that Vegemite tastes like Nutella?
I did hear that story. I don’t know where he got that from…I think it was when he got the Vegemite, he was showing me and he had a packet of double-coated Tim Tams…He left the Tim Tams at the arena, so…he was a bit confused.

Is Ben Simmons in the Boomers’ WhatsApp group chat?
He’s not in the group just yet…Originally it was just the team from the Worlds, it kinda started, and then obviously a couple got added from the squad that’s from the last couple years. And so, it’s been a few little — it’s actually a little messed up too, ’cause dudes have different numbers.

Lightning Round@downtownball posted on their Instagram that people could post questions for Ingles in the comments. Melbourne-based comedian Ronny Chieng “went ham” on the comment section, so all the questions in the lightning round are from him.

**How do you deal with trash talking in the NBA?
I didn’t really have anything to say back to most of those guys. It was a little bit intimidating.

**Did you learn any sports science from NBA trainers that you didn’t know before?
No.

**What playing shoes do you favor?
I can’t remem–on the ru–the ones James Harden wears.Were you guarding him wearing his shoes?
Yeah, it’s a bit embarrassing.

**Who’s the loudest in-game coach in the NBA?
I know this because he really annoyed me one game. When the Denver guy, Brian Shaw, got fired, the assistant took over for him.

Host: Melvin Hunt.

Ingles: That was it…We played them when he was an assistant, and he was yelling — ’cause I started that game. I was — I’ll never forget this either. He, I was guarded by Gary Harris, one of the youngest, smaller, quick, little two-men. Me being big, slow and old, it wasn’t a great matchup for me. But did get past me a few times, and he was yelling out all this stuff about how, “You can’t let that guy beat you.” Like, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. And then he was coaching the next time we played them after all that had happened, and I ran down in front of him one time, and he said something. I said, “Do you ever, do you, like, do you stop talking?” He said, “That’s what I’m here for. That’s what I do.” And I was like, “Well, you’re the head coach now. You, when you’re the assistant, you can probably do that but — ” So, he was really loud. He was non-stop.

**Did you know Gordon Hayward is a high-level Starcraft 2 player?
Yeah, see, Gordon Hayward and Dante Exum are, like, the two biggest computer geeks I’ve ever met in my life. They used to, they all had these, like, high-tech computers that they’d be playing games in…At Gordon’s house, he had one of those, like, zillion-screen things…Derrick Favors was into it a bit. Jeremy Evans. A lot of our team were, but I didn’t really understand. Rudy Gobert too, actually. I didn’t really understand. (Downtown)